


A great deal of courage to stand up to your friends

by Sapphyre402



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (he only needs his arse kicked a bit), (his Muggle friends provide the kicking), (then he's golden), Constructive Criticism Welcome, Desi Harry Potter, Desi Potter Family (Harry Potter), Dudley Dursley Redemption, Gen, Good Dudley Dursley, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:41:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29704899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphyre402/pseuds/Sapphyre402
Summary: Dudley needed a push to be a good person. The best thing that happened in his life was finding a group of friends who weren't afraid to push him. Again and again if necessary.It saved his familial relationship with Harry.-“I– I never thought about it like that.”
Comments: 16
Kudos: 88





	1. The Arse Kicking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Dudley is handed a dose of reality, in the next one (already written) they all meet as adults.  
> Enjoy.

It started in Year 12.

Well, it actually started before that, when his freak of a cousin saved his life, maybe.

Or when some of the kids in his classes took exception to the way he behaved and set out to teach him a lesson.

But Dudley would always remember that Friday afternoon, in Year 12.

He had just finished recounting an episode from when he was 10 or so, when he and Piers had made an absolute mess of their classroom and blamed Harry for it. When he told that one, his childhood friends always laughed so hard they ended up needing the bathroom.

He wasn’t expecting anything different when he told it to his new friends. That probably was his mistake.

He stopped chuckling when he realised he was the only one doing so. 

“What?” 

His friends exchanged looks, their faces getting grimmer by the second.

Daisy seemed confused and a little tentative. She had strawberry blond curls and pouty lips, and Dudley didn’t want it to be strange that he liked her because she had a flower name. She put her thin hand on his arm.

“Dudley… doesn’t that seem really mean?”

Will picked it up,

“Yeah, imagine being that kid. It must have been hurtful.”

Dudley looked into Daisy’s sad eyes and wished to make it right.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. It was fine.”

But Daisy didn’t look reassured,

“It doesn’t seem fine to me.”

And of course, Clarissa had to say something. She already looked on the warpath like she always did when they talked about something she didn’t approve of.

“Why are we tiptoeing around this? If his parents were in on it, it sounds like straight-up abuse!”

Dudley scoffed but no one refuted her words. He was starting to get frustrated.

“You’re not taking it as it’s supposed to be.”

“How are we supposed to react to humiliation? Hn?”

He couldn’t believe Luke was taking their side too. Looking around the group and seeing everyone apparently against him, Dudley’s expression darkened.

“What is your problem? It’s just supposed to be funny.”

“It didn’t sound funny to me!”

“Really, Dud, this  _ is  _ sounding a bit like abuse.”

“Would you stop throwing that word around?! He took the blame for a spot of trouble, so what?”

Rey, who had been quiet until then, stared at him.

“You said your teacher instantly believed you and punished him. Then your parents further punished him at home, by not letting him eat and closing him in his room like those where normal practices that regularly went on in your house.”

Dudley curled in his shoulders, regretting sharing that story. It had been funny in his head!

“Did you think that was  _ normal _ ?”

“You’re overreacting! That’s just the way things have always been! There’s a mess, he gets punished. That’s it.”

“And not once have you wondered whether that was acceptable?!” Clarissa seemed ready to jump up from the tabletop she sat on.

“What was there to wonder about? That’s the way things were! He wasn’t– I mean he isn’t–“

It was like Clarissa had smelled blood, and went right in for the kill.

“He wasn’t what? A little boy? A human being deserving of basic decency?”

Dudley was getting angry at that point, but when Daisy whispered,

“Your  _ family _ ?” he deflated like a balloon and shook his head to try and clear it.

“You just don’t get it.”

Will nudged his foot with his,

“C'mon then, Dudley, make us get it. Explain.”

“He was just–” Clarissa was already glaring at him, “The freak. Alright? He was just the freak, he’s always been since I can remember. Just that freak my parents didn’t want around but were forced to keep.”

His heart was beating too fast and swallowing his own spit was harder than it had any right to be.

No one spoke.

The silence became so thick that it felt like it was pressing on Dudley from every side. He didn’t know why he had said that. He didn’t know how to make this situation better. 

He felt like these were his first real friends and he was ruining everything because of  _ Harry _ .

Clarissa’s fists were curled so tight that her knuckles paled.

Rey, Luke and Laure, the ones that had mostly hung back during the whole conversation, exchanged a look. Then Rey spoke before Clarissa could explode all over them.

“I think we need to know more.”

“Why? You’ll only get upset.”

“You realise what you’ll say will upset us. Yay, progress.” deadpanned Laure, who had been mutely staring at an unspecified point over his left ear for most of the discussion.

Dudley passed a hand over his face and swore under his breath.

Then he started talking.

Putting it all out there, all at once… He had never done that.

He didn’t think he liked it.

And his friends stared at him throughout, shushing each other and grabbing hands when it seemed like they would fly.

When he stopped speaking his throat was dry.

For a long minute, no one reacted.

Then Daisy dropped her head on Laure’s shoulder, and Will took it as his cue to break the silence,

“Was–” he cleared his throat. “Was it really the whole neighbourhood?”

Dudley shrugged, not knowing what to tell him. As usual, Clarissa couldn’t let things lie.

“Well, was it? Or did you exaggerate?”

Dudley glared at her, because why would he lie about such a thing?!

“It’s as I said, no one in the neighbourhood stopped us. But I guess they all thought he was a little criminal anyway–“

“Wait, what?”

Dudley didn’t even have the energy to roll his eyes.

“I guess my parents spent time spreading around the street that  _ his  _ parents were dirty no-goods and he was– a bad apple or some other rot.”

Clarissa’s eyes widened, her cheeks flushed in rage, and she pushed her dark hair behind her ear almost violently, even if the curls sprung right back as they always did.

“Un-fucking-believable. Criminal profiling since he was a little baby. If he were black then…”

Dudley shifted awkwardly, and he saw Luke’s eyes zone in on the slight movement like a... a snake on a mouse or something. 

“Er–“

“What.” His voice was so flat, it couldn’t be called a question.

Clarissa looked quickly between them.

“No, don’t tell me. Is he?”

Dudley licked his lips. It didn’t help.

“I guess his dad’s family was Indian or something?”

No one looked anyone else in the eye.

“Indian or something. Of course. Great. Will you be telling me that he was better than you at school and your parents hated him even more for that?”

Finally, a bloody question he could answer.

“No. I mean, he was worse than me.”

“What, in general?”

“No, in every subject.” His friends exchanged weird looks. “He wasn’t allowed to do better than me.”

What they had been more or less been trying to prevent happened. Clarissa jumped to her feet from the tabletop she had been perching on.

“Of course not! How could the brown kid do better in school than the white one! And everyone in your whole community was alright with the brown kid being chased around, mistreated and who knows what else. Of course! Way to make me lose hope in the average British family.” Luke put a hand around her shoulder and gently tugged her so she’d sit next to him on the bench. Daisy had turned her face further in Laure’s shoulder. 

Dudley had to say something.

“No, but– it’s fine now!”

“Certain things stay with you all your life!” Clarissa didn’t start pacing only because Luke was still holding onto her, and Rey, from his vantage spot sitting on the table, had brought up his right hand to massage the back of her neck. She still made her displeasure felt. “And you said your parents barely fed him!” 

Daisy sighed.

“Oh, who knows how he is now.”

“He’s fine. Seriously. He went to a different Boarding School when we were 11. In the arse-end of nowhere. We’ve only seen him during the summer hols from then on.” 

His mates didn’t seem to know how to react to that.

Luke’s lips bent in a way that was too bitter to be called a smirk. 

“Ran away at the first chance, hn?”

Dudley shrugged again. Not like he could tell them about the giant that kidnapped him.

The silence stretched.

Not too long after that, the group broke up, exchanging quiet goodbyes. It was getting late, and everyone had too much on their minds to start up a nice conversation on another topic.

Rey, who had the room two doors across from Dudley, walked with him in silence until they reached their dormitory. 

“Hey, Dud.”

Dudley answered just as quietly,

“Yeah?” 

“Maybe we were a little harsh with you… you remember? With the bullying.”

“Course I do.”

Rey passed a hand through his thick black hair in a move that was so reminiscent of Harry it made Dudley shudder. He didn’t know why Reyansh and Harry both being brown had never really clicked in his mind. It did then. 

“We thought you were just another kid used to getting everything you wanted. But if your parents straight up raised you to think that was the way to behave– I suppose I get it. But, Dud… us making fun of you for three days was a lot for you. Can you imagine a kid’s whole life?”

“I– I never thought about it like that.”

Rey stared at him with his big, dark eyes.

“Of course you didn’t.” He sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. “Of course you didn’t, Dud. Why would you.” Then his friend turned around and entered his room, leaving Dudley in the semi-dark corridor feeling empty in a way he had never experienced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked it! It's the first time I write Dudley, let me know what you think ^^  
> (Thanks to EttaRose16 for the help coming up with a title! Check out her Dudley redemption story too -> https://archiveofourown.org/works/29593071)


	2. 7 years later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life goes on. Harry and Dudley's friends meet with a cameo from one of Harry's friends.

**7 years later**

  
  


The music wasn’t so loud that the friends couldn’t converse, but it nicely drowned out the other guests’ conversations. 

In the corner they had claimed for themselves, Rey laughed at Clarissa’s joke, and Daisy went as far as to wipe away a little tear from the corner of her eye. 

Laure shook her head.

“I still can’t believe that Will’s the first of the group to get married.”

“I think it’s lovely. They are so in love...” 

“It’d be strange if they didn’t look smitten at their wedding reception, Daisy.”

The woman was ready to retort, but Jay spoke up,

“Do you think Dudley got lost?”

“On his way to the  _ loo _ ?”

Luke smirked at the incredulous tone. His attention was mostly on his mates, but he regularly looked the room over, just to check. It was a habit. That was why he was the first one to notice, and  _ stare _ , when Dudley walked in with a stranger at his side. 

One thing was sure, the man wasn’t one of Dudley’s childhood mates; they had met all four of those in the course of their friendship and not one of them was that tall, or that fit.

Luke’s focused interest drew his friends’ attention and all five ended up watching as, across the room, Dudley barked out a laugh and patted his companion on the shoulder with more force than necessary, as he was wont to do after years of boxing training. The stranger didn’t even flinch.

They saw as Dudley muttered something and looked around until he spotted their corner and his eyes lit up. He quickened his pace and dragged his companion along.

“Alright, mates?” They exchanged nods, but the friends’ attention was firmly on the stranger. Noticing, Dudley gestured at him and drew himself up, apparently proud to be showing off his guest.

“You remember when I told you about Harry? My cousin?” 

Everyone stared at the 6-foot tall, athletic man in a clearly expensive and well-fitted suit accompanying Dudley.

Laure blinked first.

“I remember talking about  _ a _ cousin.”

“Yeah, this is the only one I’ve got, and I had to go collect him from the entrance.” He smiled. “I asked Will if it’d be alright to invite him, but Harry’s got weird hours, so we’ve only got him for the reception.”

The cousin smiled at them after letting Dudley explain his presence, then tilted his head in what almost resembled a bow.

“A pleasure.”

For a beat, everyone was silent as the five friends tried to reconcile their old image of a mistreated little boy with the man in front of them. Then Daisy smiled widely.

“The pleasure is ours!” 

They shook hands and exchanged ‘how do you do’s, even if Raj had to subtly elbow Clarissa to make her close her mouth. After the initial shock, it didn’t take much for Clarissa to join the conversation in earnest, and of course, she asked,

“Dudley hasn’t told us much about you, really. What do you do?”

Harry kept smiling pleasantly enough but the turn of his lips almost looked… sharp.

“I’m a cop.”

“Really? Where?” 

“Oh, I go where they need me. I guess you could say I have some… niche specialities.”

Laure seemed impressed. Behind her, Luke looked at Harry from under his fringe, his posture lazy as it always was but his blue eyes keen.

“Sounds like there’s a story there.”

“Perhaps too many.” Harry chuckled, then deflected whatever attention his words may have elicited by turning the question on them.

Laure and Rey were taking apart Clarissa’s awful boss when Harry patted Dudley on the shoulder, directed an apologetic look at the group, and said, “Excuse me a moment.” 

His attention had been caught by something closer to the head table, and, conversation well and truly derailed, everyone watched Harry call out to a young woman wearing a nice tailleur. 

“Mandy?” The short brunette immediately straightened up in a salute at hearing his voice.

“Director Potter, sir!”

Objectively, the two weren’t that far away. The quintet (plus Dudley) may have been able to catch one phrase in two had they stayed in their corner... but they exchanged a look and moved closer without a word.

“Oh, at ease, Mandy. We’re at a party.” The two smiled at each other briefly, then Harry went on, “I didn’t know you travelled these circles?” Which sounded more like a leading statement than it had any right to.

“Not usually, sir, but the bride’s my cousin from _that_ side of the family, so…”

“Oh, I understand. I’m here with _my_ cousin.”

“Gods. Talk about coincidences, hey?” They both chuckled. “And how’s the family? Little Teddy running you ragged?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe. The little monster is in one of those phases – I just hang on for the ride, really.”

“I can only imagine!”

They chattered away for a bit, then Harry sobered slightly and leaned closer, making it harder for the friends to make out his words.

“Say, Mandy, is your cousin _close_ family?”

Dudley’s friends almost felt like Harry and Mandy were having two conversations while everyone else could only hear one. 

Mandy shook her head.

“And-?”

“Oh, he does. Do you want me to introduce you?”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

Harry ambled back to their group like he didn’t have a care in the world, while Mandy marched at his side with an almost military countenance.

Dudley’s cousin didn’t seem to notice, or care, that they had moved closer in the few minutes he was gone.

“Dudley, may I introduce one of my colleagues to you? Mandy Brocklehurst is a wonderful asset to our Department.”

The woman lightly swatted at Potter, but Dudley– His friends couldn’t believe their eyes. Dudley said, 

“Miss Brocklehurst, it’s a pleasure.” Then he _bent down_ and _kissed_ the woman’s hand.

Rey looked at Laure with his eyes almost popping from his skull.

“How charming, Mr Dursley, but I fear you’re confusing me with Harry’s better-bred brethren.”

Mandy’s and Harry’s lips curled up at the alliteration, as if they were laughing at a shared joke.

“Manners are never wasted on you lot,” Dudley answered with a wink.

That… wasn’t something his friends would have expected of Dudley, but Mandy, never having met the man, saw nothing momentous in the occasion, and turned to Harry with a teasing grin.

“You trained him up good, I see.” All three laughed, and even Daisy, albeit out of her depth, giggled at the scene. 

“I had no hand in it, truly. Who would need instructions to be polite when in the presence of such poise?”

“Deflecting again, how like you.” Harry sent her a smirk, then set his green, green eyes on his cousin’s friend group. 

“I don’t know if you already know anyone here, Mandy, they’re friends of the groom.”

“I’ll be happy to remedy my ignorance.”

“Spoken like a true Ravenclaw. Mandy, this is Laure, Daisy, Clarissa, Rayansch and Luke.” He rattled their names off like he hadn’t learned them less than an hour before.

“Nice to meet you all.”

They mumbled back the same sentiment, then Laure had to ask,

“You work with Harry, are you a cop like him?”

Mandy looked at Harry, her eyebrow twitching, and nodded.

“A cop, yes, even if–“

Luke interrupted, his voice low in the packed hall, “with niche specialities?”

The woman suppressed a smile.

“You could say that, yes.”

It didn’t escape anyone’s notice how closely her turn of phrase matched Harry’s.

They exchanged pleasantries for a while; then Mandy, Harry and Dudley made their excuses so they could congratulate the newlyweds.

No one spoke for maybe a minute. Laure and Clarissa stared at their retreating backs intensely, until Daisy couldn’t keep it in anymore, blurting out,

“He- Harry seems to be doing really well, doesn’t he?” 

Clarissa lost her line of sight and huffed.

“Will will _hate_ having missed this.”

Luke raised an eyebrow, completely unconvinced.

“I think he’d take snogging his new wife over gossiping any day.”

Daisy tried to argue that they weren’t _gossiping_ , just getting to know Dudley’s family, but Clarissa shot a look at the dance floor. It was hard to miss the happy couple, joined from knee to shoulder and swaying gently to the music. The woman narrowed her eyes.

“Maybe. But still–” Rey chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders, Daisy leaned against Laure and Luke hung back, but a little closer than usual. 

Dudley, his cousin, and said cousin’s coworker approached the groom and bride, all smiles and sunshine.

Dudley’s friends watched on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.  
> Hope you enjoyed this, let me know what you thought in the comments ^^  
> (If you liked this, you may also like [Whatever Happened to Harry Potter?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26585077)  
> [Harry Runs Into An Old Muggle Classmate](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11577120)  
> [A Decade and a Half Ago](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5330248))


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